2D Quality (again!) - is a P650 better than a low end ATI or nVidia on CRTs??

[Kurt]

What about the 9600SE Atlantis? Passive cooling. Cheap. Are you looking for performance?

[Nowhere]

Most of all I want my money to be well spend - definately not on artificially crippled card.

[Kurt]

Then spend the additional 18€ to get the 9600 with passive cooling from Sapphire.

[Whirl-Secret]

I don't want to turn Murc into a Sapphire love shack but I've got to admit the quality on them is way way waaay nicer than, say, powercolor. We buy sapphires at work and passive cooling with good text rendering is just what we need. We can get a 9200SE for £30 ish which makes it impossible for me to buy P650s to make spreadsheets look slightly better....

Unless you are one of those who must pay way over the odds for that last 5-10% of quality then a Sapphire will do nicely. I don't know if they do Dual DVI out and Matrox's dualhead is the best, so make your choice.

Err why am I repeating what we all know anyway....

Also if you like quality that much you have to consider the monitor. My dad has an Eizo 19" with a geforce 2 which comes embaressingly close to looking as good as my iiyama 17" with a P650. In some ways it's better.

[Kurt]

good screen, cr*p card vs (not so)great screen + good card.

[Whirl-Secret]

good screen, cr*p card vs (not so)great screen + good card.

Yeah exactly... point being, get a nice monitor as well, it really makes as much a difference as the graphics card. Sounds obvious but a lot of people not on this forum don't know that.

[Heiney]

ATI's AIW 9600 is passively cooled. I really liked to see that after replacing a Radeon SE VIVO after the fan died. 9550/9600/below really DO NOT need a dumb fan. It's just cuz the marketing folks think people only want cards with fans. (Heh, they are right. Most dumbasses want fans).

I don't like fans on my video cards or northbridges unless they are high end and actually dump out heat that is not manageable by a simple heatsink. Those fans ALWAYS die.

[Nowhere]

Yep, I'd be choosing between Abit & Asus for my next mobo, but Abit made my choice much easier the way you describe...

[shanebrooks]

I'd buy the passive cooler for more $ any time. The extra spindoola now would be spent on a new fan in 12 months anyhow. Chipset and VGA fans are made like crap. I hate them. HATE THEM I SAY!!! MMMUUUAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

[Umfriend]

Not that I like fans, but I've never had a single fan die on me. And of the 3 AtIs, two have fans.

[chaoliang]

ATI's origial cards are also offered on German online shops, but only the All-in-Wonder versions. I didn't know that some of the ATI cards are passively cooled. It was one of the most imporant reasons for buying my P650. Now it seems that I can't even play strategy games like Stonghold II.

[Goc]

FYI, all All-In-Wonder cards are in fact manufactured by ATI. I think Hercules was the only manufacturer that USED TO make their own all-in-wonders... So if someone lists Powercolor AIW as original ATI he technicaly ain't lying...